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Palin’s leadership political action committee, Sarah PAC, finished the year with $1.2 million in the bank, according to a report to the Federal Election Commission covering roughly the final month of the year.

Perhaps as significant as the cash on hand, Palin’s PAC has continued spending to build her fundraising list, which sources say contains about 100,000 addresses. The PAC paid $28,000 in December for fundraising related expenses including direct mail, online fundraising and thank you notes to donors, the report shows.

In all, a POLITICO analysis of FEC filings found, Sarah PAC spent $1.5 million on fundraising in 2012 — accounting for more than 60 percent of all its spending and far outstripping the $236,000 it donated to candidates.

Palin has used the PAC to maintain a small political staff, travel the country speaking to political audiences and build a donor list.

It will become even more important for the former Alaska governor if she intends to keep a foothold in politics, since her split last week from Fox News after three years as a paid commentator on the right-leaning network deprives her of her largest platform. Additionally, Palin’s political star power dimmed since her 2008 GOP vice presidential campaign has faded into the past, and the tea party movement that embraced her has seemed to lose steam.

Sarah PAC paid $585,000 in 2012 to a small team of consultants — including speechwriter Rebecca Mansour, finance director Tim Crawford and coalitions activist Pam Pryor — who form the backbone of Palin’s political operation.

And her endorsements — along with accompanying Sarah PAC donations — were welcomed by several tea party candidates who defeated more establishment candidates in GOP primaries, earning her allies in the GOP freshman class and signaling that she can still be a force in the conservative base.